1— What is the title of your latest release?
PLAY OF SHADOWS
2— What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A swashbuckling fantasy in which a misbegotten troupe of actors stumbles upon a hundred year old secret that spark a revolution in their once-peaceful city.
3— How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I wanted the setting for Play of Shadows to be a city that I’d want to visit myself, to marvel at its baroque architecture while strolling down bustling boulevards and across its beautiful canals, visiting magnificent theatres and operas, and, of course, steering clear of its many dark alleys filled with pickpockets, jackblades, alley-rats and murderers. Jereste is a kind of fantastical Venice in which both the wonders and dangers are magnified tenfold.
4— Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Damelas Chademantaigne is the sort of fellow you can’t help but both admire and want to shake all at the same time. He counts himself a coward, yet often gets himself in trouble sticking up for those worse off than himself. He’s loyal and tenderhearted, but sometimes in need ot a good smack to the back of the head to get him to face his fate head-on.
5— What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Courageous, Cowardly, and Confused.
6— What’s something you learned while writing this book?
While Play of Shadows is set in a fantasy world, during my research I did find that there have been a remarkable number of rather strange legal traditions concerning actors that came and went over the centuries.
7— Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I tend to edit as I write, often looping back several chapters when I make some new discovery about my story or its characters. For me, a novel begins with a sentence that feels right, and every subsequent sentence leads on from the previous one. That means that if one of my earlier sentences feels wrong to me, everything that follows becomes compromised. I’m always searching for a better line of dialogue or piece of description, and when I find it, that affects everything that came before and will come after.
8— What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate cake with ice cream at 9:45 in the morning. It’s so wrong, yet so wonderfully decadent.
9— Describe your writing space/office!
Picture a well-set up desk perfect for writing, with an excellent mechanical keyboard attached to a speedy computer connected to an excellent monitor. The stage is set for a day of productive writing. Now, throw in two cats who will do anything and everything required to make sure you can’t see that lovely, expensive computer monitor and that your fingers never hit the key on the keyboard that you’re trying to reach.
10— Who is an author you admire?
I always admire the way Neil Gaiman will write in whatever genre or medium suits his creative impulse. There’s so much pressure in the world of commercial fiction to follow trends or stick with what made you successful, so I take inspiration from seeing how Gaiman goes wherever he wants with his writing.
11— Is there a book that changed your life?
Bard by Keith Taylor filled me with a life-long obsession to become . . . a bard: someone who travels the world, going on adventures, singing songs, swinging a sword and then telling stories about it. You won’t find those jobs in the “Help Wanted” ads, but after having worked as a travelling musician, actor, sword choreographer, teacher and now novelist, I feel I’ve achieved my bardic dreams in the aggregate!
12— Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
I was in France on a cycling trip with my wife when my beloved agent, Heather Adams, sent me a shocked e-mail that we’d gotten an offer on a four-book deal for Traitor’s Blade. The only problem was that her e-mail had a comma in the wrong place, which made it unclear whether this was a six-figure deal or a five-figure one. I was then out of Internet or cellular access for an entire day, which made it very difficult to decide how excited I should be. Thankfully, when I finally got hold of Heather, she informed me that it was, indeed, a six-figure deal. That launched my career as a full-time novelist. A decade later, with sixteen novels under my belt and six more under contract, that moment of wonder and gratitude sticks with me every day.
13— What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’ve never been especially loyal to any genre, though I read more fantasy and mystery than most others. Sometimes, though, a wonderful historical fiction novel or even a romance will come along and I’ll be hooked.
14— What’s your favorite movie?
Memento is the film I’ve seen the most and could probably just keep re-watching over and over. There’s something so ingenious about its construction and the script that I can’t stop trying to figure out how the heck Christopher Nolan and his brother wrote it.
15— What is your favorite season?
Fall is the season that appeals to me most: warm enough for long walks and bicycle rides, but with that touch of a blustery wind that reminds me of being a kid in rural Quebec with the red and gold leaves of deciduous trees swirling all around me.
16— How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
About every second year, my wife throws a party for my birthday. Friends I might not have seen for ages will turn up, and they’ll meet other friends of mine and all sorts of strange conversations will ensue. Also, there’s chocolate cake and ice cream – some of which I’m allowed to then eat at 9:45am the next morning, which I therefore consider my true birthday celebration.
17— What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Keep Within by J. L. Worrad is a terrific fantasy novel with wonderful characters and an incredibly original story to tell. It’s flown somewhat under the radar in our current crowded market, but definitely worth reading . . . after you’ve finished Play of Shadows, of course!
18— What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I though that would’ve been obvious by now: my favorite cuisine is chocolate cake with ice cream, naturally.
19— What do you do when you have free time?
I love to travel, so I do that whenever I can. When I’m at home, my favorite pastime is getting lost down a rabbit hole of learning something new. I was a terrible student in university, and still have anxiety dreams now and then of having missed most of the classes in a course and being about to sit down for a final exam. But now, I can go off and learn whatever I want under the guise of “novel research” and explore what interests me without the stress of having to learn all of it.
20— What can readers expect from you next?
After Play of Shadows comes out, I’ll be working on the next novel in the Court of Shadows series, Our Lady of Blades. There’s also talk of sequels for Malevolent Seven, my irreverent fantasy novel about a band of ethically dubious mercenary war mages who go around blowing things up and occasionally – and very accidentally – saving the world. I’ve also got three different quirky mystery novels I’ve written in recent years, and one of those will be published towards the end of 2024. So, much, much more to come!
The Court of Shadows #1
Swordplay, magic, intrigue and friendships stronger than iron: the first volume in the new swashbuckling fantasy series set in the universe of THE GREATCOATS.
Damelas Chademantaigne picked a poor night to flee a judicial duel.
He has precious little hope of escaping the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides a temporary respite from his troubles - until one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth: the city's most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer.
With only the help of his boisterous and lusty friend Bereto, a beautiful assassin whose target may well be Damelas himself, and a company of misfit actors who'd just as soon see him dead, this failed grandson of two Greatcoats must somehow find within himself the courage to dig up long-buried truths before a ruthless band of bravos known as the Iron Orchids come for his head.
Oh, and there's still that matter of the Vixen waiting to duel him . . .
Fantasy [Arcadia Books, On Sale: March 28, 2024, e-Book, ISBN: 9781787471474 / ]
Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realized how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and product strategist. His only defence against the charge of unbridled dilettantism is that he genuinely likes doing these things and that, in one way or another, each of these fields plays a role in his writing. He sternly resists the accusation of being a Renaissance Man in the hopes that more people will label him that way.
Sebastien's acclaimed swashbuckling fantasy series, The Greatcoats. was shortlisted for both the 2014 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Fantasy. the Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut, the Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Work, and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His YA fantasy series, Spellslinger, was nominated for the Carnegie Medal and is published in more than a dozen languages.
Sebastien lives in Vancouver, Canada with his lovely wife and two belligerent cats.
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